Penn State 2025 Season Preview: Do the Nittany Lions Have Enough for a National Championship?

By Luke Brown | SportsTalkPhilly.com

James Franklin was very adamant during his August 2 press conference that “no one cares about preseason rankings.” In fact, he said “I’m not going to frame the preseason rankings and put it in my basement in the man cave. No one cares. No one cares.”

It’s hard to argue that this Penn State football team has more hype around it than any James Franklin-coached team in State College, though.

The Nittany Lions are coming off of a season that took them to an appearance in the Big Ten championship game, their first two College Football Playoff wins in program history against SMU and Boise State, and down to the final drive against Notre Dame in the national semifinals, a crushing 27-24 loss.

Now, the core of the group has returned. Drew Allar decided to skip out on hearing his name in this past spring’s NFL Draft to develop another year in college, the running back tandem of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen has returned, and some huge pieces like Nick Dawkins, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Zane Durant and Zakee Wheatley are back on the team to try and make a push to a National Championship in January.

Newcomers to Watch

If you want to see unfamiliar faces, look no further than the group of guys catching the ball on this Penn State team. Surely the Nittany Lions will get a lot of production out of transfer wideouts Trebor Pena and Kyron Hudson.

Pena is a Syracuse transfer who caught 84 passes for 941 yards and nine touchdowns last year in the ACC – some really valuable numbers coming in to State College.

Hudson is coming from USC, who played Penn State last season as part of a new Big Ten schedule. He tallied 38 receptions for 462 yards and three touchdowns, adding on to a 170-catch, 189-yard, two-touchdown season the year prior. Against PSU, Hudson caught four passes for 36 yards and a touchdown, but the Trojans lost that game 33-30 in overtime.

I think the biggest thing is they are veterans that have already produced in college football.

You know, Hudson was a captain at his previous institution. Had one of the catches of the year against LSU. Senior, veteran, mature. So that’s been valuable for us.

Tyseer Denmark is also expected to have a big season for Penn State after a really promising redshirt freshman season last year. The Philadelphia native caught two passes last year for 28 yards, one being a touchdown reception as the clock hit zero in the regular season finale against Maryland. Denmark has gotten a lot of praise from coaches in the preseason and in practices, and a big leap forward is expected from the 5’10” receiver.

At tight end, it’s the year for Khalil Dinkins, a senior who’s been waiting behind Tyler Warren, who won the John Mackey Award for the nation’s best tight end last season.

“I don’t think enough people talk about Khalil Dinkins,” said James Franklin in a press conference on media day. “He did all the dirty work last year.”

Now, it’ll be Dinkins time to step up as the top tight end and be much more of a pass catcher on an offense that has a ton of weapons.

Now is the time for Allar to prove himself to the country

It’s no secret that Drew Allar’s season did not end the way he wanted it to last season. Tied up, 24-24, against Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals, 39 seconds left, and Allar just misfired on a pass over the middle.

It resulted in an intercepted and gave the Fighting Irish a perfect opportunity for a field goal that would win the game in dramatic fashion.

Allar was 12/23 in that Orange Bowl loss, tallying just 135 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. It’s not where he wanted to be. Now the reset button has been hit.

Allar was named to the Manning Award watch list ahead of 2025 and, through the year, he’ll likely be reminded of how important this year is for him. He could’ve entered the NFL Draft and could currently be an NFL quarterback, but he knew he needed this season to develop and show scouts where he truly is as a player. This season, there are no excuses for anything short of an elite season.

Now, with two really impactful transfer receivers, and the in-house development of some pass-catchers, it’s now or never for Drew Allar to show where he falls in terms of the nation’s top quarterbacks.

Running Back Room: The best rushing duo in the country

The argument is certainly there that the pairing of Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton will go down as the best in Penn State history. Even if they aren’t, the Nittany Lions have not seen a backfield duo this good since Franco Harris and Lydell Mitchell in the early 1970’s.

While Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is widely considered the best running back in the country, many consider Allen and Singleton interchangeable as the second and third best, and that’s pretty scary to have in the same backfield.

The Defense

The Nittany Lions return six defensive starters to their roster this season – linemen Zane Durant and Dani Dennis-Sutton, linebackers Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas, and defensive backs AJ Harris and Zakee Wheatley.

Despite this return, PSU’s defensive unit is going to have a completely different look, as new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was brought in over the offseason shortly after leading Ohio State’s defense to a national championship.

I think in today’s game of football, [defense] needs to be somewhat complicated because you need to have the answers for everything.

Offenses don’t run the same things in college. You better have all different kinds of answers. For teaching and installing, I’ve gotten better at it.

Knowles will now be challenged to install a new defense at Penn State.

Defensive end Abdul Carter is by far the biggest loss to the defense. He went third overall in the NFL Draft to the New York Giants. He tallied 172 tackles in three years as a Nittany Lion and 23 sacks. He will go down as one of the best players to wear the famed #11.

Zuriah Fisher is where a lot of heads are turning for a breakout defender; a defensive end from Aliquippa, Pa., Fisher contributed 17 tackles last year and is now in his senior season. It is his last chance to break through as one of the top defenders on one of the nation’s top teams.

Key Games

It’s no secret that Penn State, especially under James Franklin, has had a lot of buzz around their inability to win big games.

The Nittany Lions dropped a regular season meeting with Ohio State at home, a Big Ten Championship against Oregon and an Orange Bowl loss to Notre Dame, thus missing a chance to go play Ohio State in the National Championship. This year, the door to win a big game over a powerhouse team is more wide open than it ever has been.

In fact, it’s going to be an expectation that the Nittany Lions at least win one of their two games against CFP teams on their schedule this year.

White Out vs. Oregon

That starts with the Oregon Ducks, who visit Happy Valley on September 27th- Penn State’s whiteout game.

Oregon is ranked seventh in the AP preseason poll and beat Penn State in last year’s Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. Dillon Gabriel, the Ducks’ starting quarterback last year, is now in the NFL and Dante Moore is expected to take his place as the new starter.

It’ll be PSU’s first Big Ten game of the year, and a huge one to get over the hurdle of winning the big ones.

Battling the Buckeyes

A visit to Columbus, Ohio on November 1 will be huge for the Nittany Lions, as well.

Ohio State has won every matchup between the two since a 2016 thriller in Happy Valley, and this could certainly be the year that Penn State dethrones the Buckeyes yet again.

The defending national champions are underway on a quarterback battle between Lincoln Kienholz and Julian Sayin. Odds are we’ll have a good idea of who wins that battle ahead of week one, since top-ranked Texas is their first opponent.

SoCal Trap?

A road visit to the Rose Bowl to face UCLA the week after their White Out matchup against Oregon could serve as a trap game. The Bruins have a lot of questions, includingTennessee transfer Nico Iamaleava will being their new starting quarterback.

Penn State will have to take care of business in California, just as they did last year in a signature win over USC.

Hoosier Daddy?!

One more game worth noting for PSU is Indiana at home on November 8.

It’s a week after the Nittany Lions’ trip to Columbus, so they’ll either be in desperate need of the win over the current #20 Hoosiers or there’s a possibility they’ll be riding super high off of the win over Ohio State.

Last year was one of Indiana’s best seasons in program history, but it did not include any meetings with Penn State. Fernando Mendoza is the new sheriff in town after transferring from Cal to Bloomington. The home game will probably have a similar buildup to last year’s Illinois game.

The Outlook

It’s pretty difficult to see a roster like this lose any more than two games this season.

It’s the most anticipated team PSU has had in many years, and their schedule is going to allow for a lot of flow through the season. That said, it’s unclear if there is enough in the tank for an undefeated season. It’s likely that either Oregon or Ohio State will get to them and, right now, it’s easier to lean towards Ohio State.

Oregon is marching into their first game at Beaver Stadium since 1964- a White Out game nonetheless. Ohio State, on the other hand, will be battle tested by the time they get to Penn State, having played Texas and Illinois alreadywhile getting to host the Nittany Lions.

It’d be a dream season for Penn State fans to beat both Oregon and Ohio State in the same season, but it’s hard to see given the track record.

On the flip side, it’s much harder to see Penn State losing to any opponent not named Oregon or Ohio State. They are almost guaranteed to be 3-0 after three weeks, and I don’t think anyone in Happy Valley is shivering at the thought of Indiana rolling into town on November 8. Although, they will need to take that game seriously, sandwiched in between Ohio State and the final stretch of the season.

It’s going to be a fun season of Penn State football, there’s no doubt about it. From week one to the National Championship, fans in Happy Valley are in for big games, nailbiters, and big moments through a highly-anticipated season in State College.